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Former TigerDirect President Indicted In $230 Million Laundering Scheme

McGruber writes "Carl Fiorentino, known to many slashdotters for his regular hyperbole-filled emails advertising 'unbelievable' blowout pricing on memory, storage, other components, and overclocker specials, has been indicted in New York federal court on seven counts of fraud and money laundering charges. Fiorentino allegedly took more than $7 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for steering more than $230 million in business to the Taiwanese and California companies that made the payments."

7 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Throw the Book by mfh · · Score: 3

    Just throw the book at this guy. He's scum. This is precisely what's wrong with the corporations on our planet and there has to be some kind of accountability, not that it would do much good in convincing CEOs to play a fair game. It seems everyone is cutting corners these days.

    That is NOT how you grow a brand.

    --
    The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
    1. Re:Throw the Book by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You're kidding right? Don't you know that every Fab manager in Asia does extra runs of chips under that table and sells them on the gray/black markets? Even large companies like Qualcomm know this, and they look the other way because they want the cheap chip production.

      Every public company is operating against the interests of their common employees, and FOR the interests of their upper management / board of directors (and indirectly the stockholder). Know this and you will be less confused as your buying power is slowly eroded to nil.

    2. Re:Throw the Book by dickplaus · · Score: 5, Funny

      Let me explain to you how this works: you see, the corporations finance Team America, and then Team America goes out... and the corporations sit there in their... in their corporation buildings, and... and, and see, they're all corporation-y... and they make money.

    3. Re:Throw the Book by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Either it's all okay or it's all bad.

      There is plenty of middle ground. Some places realize that some kinds of meetings will span meal times and that meals are included in some functions, so allow meals to be covered, with some cap on price, others allow small gifts up to a certain value to help with allowing samples and simple tools to be given. Others can allow more, but require things to be declared, so that if there is a problem it gets stopped right away and the interference is more clear. As long as things are open and known, it is a little easier to just apply some common sense instead of needing to go an all or nothing approach.

  2. so by WGFCrafty · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So he laundered 7 million in kickbacks from steering $240 million in business, not a $240 million dollar money laundering scheme. Too bad he's not HSBC, the only government authorized money launderer.

  3. Was I the only one? by TWiTfan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Was I the only one who always always found TigerDirect to be kind of sleazy? I mean, even back *years* ago, they always reminded me of those skeevy camera stores that are notorious for false advertising and bait-and-switch deals.

    --
    The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
  4. In case you're wondering... by slashmydots · · Score: 5, Informative

    They own: Tiger Direct, Tiger Direct B2B, Systemax, Infotel Distributors, Ultra, Global Industrial, Nexel, Misco, Speedgifter, WorldWide Rebates, Comp USA, and believe it or not, Circuit City.